@jarrodmedrano/claude-skills 1.0.2 → 1.0.4

package/.claude/skills/level-design/indie-practices.md

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+# Level Design Practices for Independent Games
+
+Based on Chapter 6: "Level Design Practices for Independent Games" by Fares Kayali and Josef Ortner.
+
+## The Contemporary Retro Game
+
+Independent games often feature:
+- 2D content with retro aesthetic
+- Strong, innovative core mechanics
+- Modern, focused gameplay
+- Limited team/budget resources
+
+The level designer operates at the intersection of programming, design, and art—distilling ideas into workable games while leading players through experiences without revealing the designer's presence.
+
+---
+
+## Qualities of Good Level Design
+
+### 1. Maintain Flow
+Balance difficulty and challenge. Avoid:
+- **Anxiety** (too hard)
+- **Boredom** (too easy)
+
+Keep players in the "flow channel."
+
+### 2. Balance Freedom and Constraints
+Give players the illusion of control while ensuring:
+- Continuity
+- Fluent play
+- Guided experience
+
+### 3. Enable Mastery and Emergence
+- Allow recombination of game elements
+- Support elusive mastery
+- Create emergent gameplay
+- Incentivize replay
+
+### 4. Balance Risk and Reward
+Every level should include:
+- Easier options (lower rewards)
+- Harder options (higher rewards)
+- Proportional reward scaling
+
+### 5. Drive Narrative
+Ensure individual levels align with:
+- Overall game progression
+- Asset revelation schedule
+- Story pacing
+
+### 6. Guide the Player
+Use environmental cues:
+- Mirror's Edge: Red marks climbable objects
+- Lighting draws attention
+- Architecture suggests paths
+
+---
+
+## Five Level Design Practices
+
+### 1. Expand on Strong Core Mechanics
+
+**Example:** VVVVVV
+> "You cannot jump—instead, you reverse your own gravity at the press of a button. The game focuses on playing with this mechanic in a variety of interesting ways."
+
+**The approach:**
+- One simple, strong core mechanic
+- Entire game explores variations
+- Constraints force creativity
+- Each level finds new applications
+
+**VVVVVV specifics:**
+- Input: Left, right, flip gravity
+- Exploration: Moving platforms from below, ceiling walking, gravity timing puzzles
+- Difficulty through variety, not complexity
+
+**Design principle:** Constrain to create depth. Less mechanics = more exploration of each.
+
+---
+
+### 2. Iterative Level Design
+
+**The Process:**
+1. Rapid prototyping
+2. Playtest early
+3. Iterate based on feedback
+4. Repeat until fun
+
+**Key insight:** Level design should happen *alongside* mechanic development, not after.
+
+**Radio Flare Redux case:**
+- Music-based game (each level is a song)
+- Level design tightly connected to music
+- All events quantized to beat
+- Level files read like musical scores
+
+**Lesson learned:** Starting level design late meant:
+- Fewer enemy patterns
+- Less variety
+- Good ideas lost in the process
+
+---
+
+### 3. Design Game Modes, Not Levels
+
+**Example:** Hue Shift
+
+**Original approach:** Designed levels with completion goals
+- Problem: Constant player speed meant maximum high score
+- Result: No motivation to improve
+
+**New approach:** Endless, self-generated level
+- Play until mistake
+- No maximum score
+- Active high score competition
+
+**Implementation:**
+- 50 predefined blocks (easy/medium/hard)
+- Random combination
+- Early blocks easy, difficulty increases
+- Each block designed to connect to any other
+
+**Benefits:**
+- Short development time
+- High replay value
+- Player motivation through randomization
+
+**The trade-off:** Some frustration from difficult random combinations, but hope for better luck keeps players trying.
+
+---
+
+### 4. Sandboxes and Emergent Gameplay
+
+**Definition:** Create systems that generate interesting situations rather than authored content.
+
+**Elements:**
+- Simple, consistent rules
+- Interacting systems
+- Player creativity enabled
+- Unpredictable outcomes
+
+**Level design role:**
+- Provide the sandbox
+- Set initial conditions
+- Let emergence happen
+
+**Example scenarios:**
+- Physics puzzles with multiple solutions
+- Enemy AI with emergent behaviors
+- Environmental interactions
+
+---
+
+### 5. Object-Oriented Level Design
+
+**Concept:** Modular elements that combine predictably.
+
+**Implementation:**
+- Design reusable "objects" (platforms, enemies, hazards)
+- Define clear interaction rules
+- Combine objects to create levels
+- Objects work regardless of combination
+
+**Benefits:**
+- Rapid level creation
+- Consistent player expectations
+- Easy difficulty scaling
+- Efficient development
+
+**Hue Shift application:**
+- 50 blocks with 2-6 platforms each
+- Any block connects to any other
+- Combination rules ensure solvability
+
+---
+
+## Core Mechanics Definition
+
+### Järvinen's Definition
+> "Game mechanics are the means through which the players carry out certain rule-based actions aiming at the game goals."
+
+### MDA Framework
+> "Mechanics are the various actions, behaviors and control mechanisms afforded to the player within a game context."
+
+### Core Mechanics
+The essential play activity performed repeatedly throughout the game.
+
+**VVVVVV core mechanic:** Gravity reversal
+**Pac-Man core mechanics:** Movement, eating, avoiding
+
+---
+
+## Rhythm and Music Integration
+
+### Radio Flare Redux Approach
+
+**Process:**
+1. Listen to song repeatedly
+2. Identify sections, themes, recurring elements
+3. Quantize events to beat
+4. Match level structure to musical structure
+
+**Level file structure:**
+- Time indexed by bars and beats
+- Events synchronized to rhythm
+- Sound effects blend with music
+
+**Benefits:**
+- Tight audiovisual sync
+- Immersive experience
+- Clear structure
+
+**Drawbacks:**
+- Linear, static experience
+- Limited emergent gameplay
+- Late development constraints
+
+---
+
+## Resource Constraints as Design Tools
+
+### Limited Time
+- Focus on core mechanic
+- Cut feature scope, not quality
+- Iterative refinement over breadth
+
+### Limited Budget
+- Retro aesthetics require less art
+- Procedural generation reduces content needs
+- Modular design maximizes asset reuse
+
+### Limited Team
+- Designer as programmer, artist, level designer
+- Communication overhead reduced
+- Vision consistency easier
+
+---
+
+## Player Expectation Management
+
+### The Carrot on a Stick
+Always provide clear incentive for forward progress.
+
+### Subverting Expectations
+Consciously fulfill *and* subvert player expectations when designing levels.
+
+**Balance:**
+- Enough fulfillment for comfort
+- Enough subversion for surprise
+- Pattern recognition rewarded
+- Complacency punished
+
+---
+
+## Contemporary vs Retro
+
+### Retro Elements
+- Low-end graphics
+- Limited input (2-3 buttons)
+- Clear rules
+- High difficulty
+- Chunked level design
+
+### Contemporary Elements
+- Short session times (5-8 minutes)
+- Procedural generation
+- Endless modes
+- Social features (leaderboards)
+- Mobile-friendly design
+
+### The Synthesis
+Contemporary retro games:
+- Look old
+- Play modern
+- Respect player time
+- Enable mastery
+
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+1. **Core mechanic first** — Build everything on a strong foundation
+2. **Iterate constantly** — Playtest early and often
+3. **Consider endless modes** — Sometimes no levels is better
+4. **Embrace emergence** — Systems create more than content
+5. **Design modularly** — Object-oriented thinking speeds development
+6. **Constraints enable creativity** — Limited resources force focus

package/.claude/skills/level-design/open-world-planning.md

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+# Open-World Level Design Planning
+
+Based on Chapter 12: "Level Design Planning for Open-World Games" by Joel Burgess (Bethesda Game Studios).
+
+## The Three Elements
+
+Open-world planning requires three living documents that evolve throughout development:
+
+1. **The World Map** — Spatial visualization
+2. **The Master List** — High-level data tracking (Excel)
+3. **The Directory** — Per-location details (Wiki)
+
+---
+
+## Element 1: The World Map
+
+### Purpose
+The map is the most vital piece of design documentation. It instantly communicates setting, scale, regions, and anchor locations.
+
+### Key Questions
+- Where does the game take place? (real vs fictional)
+- What subregions exist within the map?
+- What is the scale and density?
+- What major geographical features exist?
+- What natural boundaries can you leverage?
+
+### Working with Real-World Locations
+
+**Advantages:**
+- Pre-existing history and culture
+- Geography already makes sense
+- Reference material abundant
+
+**Challenges:**
+- 100% accuracy rarely equals good gameplay
+- Must balance authenticity with playability
+- Need to understand *essence*, not just details
+
+**Fallout Approach:**
+Get relative positions and surroundings correct for landmarks. Highlight evocative elements. Omit less useful details.
+
+### Subregions
+
+Create variety within the larger world:
+- Different biomes
+- Different cultures
+- Different moods
+
+**Skyrim's Seasonal Subregions:**
+- The Rift: perpetual autumn
+- Haafinagar: bleak winter
+- Falkreath: eternal spring
+
+No actual seasons simulated—each region *is* a season.
+
+### Transitions Between Subregions
+- Leave ample room to blend
+- Use geographical features (cliffs, rivers) for sharper transitions
+- Water boundaries make rapid shifts more believable
+
+### Orienting Features
+
+Include landmarks visible from anywhere:
+- **Skyrim**: High Hrothgar at center
+- **Fallout 4**: Boston skyline (Mass Fusion building's distinctive crown)
+
+Two-point orientation systems work well (financial district + Trinity Tower).
+
+### Boundaries
+
+**Natural boundaries (preferred):**
+- Water (oceans, lakes, rivers)
+- Cliffs
+- Dense forests/marshes
+- Mountains
+
+**Artificial boundaries (avoid when possible):**
+- Invisible walls with "You cannot go that way"
+- Fences that should be climbable
+- Any barrier that draws attention
+
+**Making Boundaries Work:**
+- GTAV: Swim out far enough and sharks eat you
+- Ark: Exhaustion + marine enemies before invisible wall
+- Buffer of "boring space" before hard boundary
+
+---
+
+## Element 2: The Master List
+
+### Purpose
+A spreadsheet tracking every location with filterable, sortable data. Best tool for high-level analysis.
+
+### Basic Columns
+| Name | X | Y | Designer | Quest | Footprint |
+|------|---|---|----------|-------|-----------|
+| Diamond City | 5 | -6 | Jane | MQ101 | Lg |
+| Sanctuary | -2 | 4 | Bob | MQ001 | Md |
+
+### Coordinate System
+Use units that match your game engine. Bethesda uses "cells" consistently across games.
+
+### Plotting the Map
+
+Create a scatter graph in Excel:
+1. X/Y data from location columns
+2. Set axis bounds to match map proportions
+3. Use map image as plot background
+4. Plot points overlay on map
+
+Now you can visualize location distribution automatically.
+
+### Footprint Radii
+
+Track location sizes (Sm/Md/Lg) and visualize with different marker sizes on the scatter plot.
+
+**Note:** Footprint ≠ complexity. A tiny exterior might hide a massive underground area.
+
+### Filter Visualizations
+
+Add columns for:
+- Encounter type
+- Difficulty
+- Architectural style
+- Quest associations
+- Development status
+
+Filter columns to see distribution patterns instantly.
+
+### Quest Route Visualization
+
+Plot quest sequences as line series:
+1. Create list of locations in quest order
+2. Add as new data series
+3. Display as connected line
+
+Instantly see the physical journey players will take.
+
+---
+
+## Element 3: The Directory
+
+### Purpose
+Long-form documentation for individual locations. Where designers track detailed, evolving information.
+
+### Platform
+Wiki works best (MediaWiki recommended). Collaborative, searchable, categorizable.
+
+### Per-Location Pages Should Include:
+
+**Header Data:**
+- Designer assigned
+- Quadrant/coordinates
+- Encounter type
+- Difficulty rating
+- Quest associations
+
+**Body Sections:**
+- Overview: What is this place?
+- Goals: What experience should it deliver?
+- Walkthrough: How to test/reach it
+- Pass notes: Feedback from each iteration
+- Known issues: Current bugs and workarounds
+- To-do: Designer's personal task list
+
+### Category Tags
+Enable filtering by:
+- Designer name
+- Development pass status
+- Location type
+- Quest line
+
+### Naming Convention
+Simple codes: DN004 = Dungeon #4
+Use consistently across master list and directory.
+
+---
+
+## POI Density
+
+### Definition
+The frequency of points of interest in a given area.
+
+### The Spectrum
+
+**Sparse (Just Cause):**
+- Long drives between locations
+- Vehicles essential
+- World feels vast and empty (intentionally)
+
+**Dense (GTA cities):**
+- Compressed real-world distances
+- Something around every corner
+- Theme park feel
+
+**Non-uniform (Fallout 4, Skyrim):**
+- Urban cores dense
+- Rural areas sparse
+- Small pockets of density for towns
+
+### Consider Travel Method
+- On foot: higher density needed
+- Vehicle: can afford sparser distribution
+- Fast travel: density matters less for return visits
+
+---
+
+## Anchor Locations
+
+Locations you know must exist early:
+- Story-critical places
+- Real-world landmarks (if applicable)
+- Major navigation features
+- Key narrative beats
+
+Plot these first. Other locations fill around them.
+
+### Wish List Locations
+Ideas you'd like to include but aren't critical:
+- Minor landmarks
+- Novel encounter concepts
+- Infrastructure (power stations, farms)
+- World-building details
+
+Build wish list to roughly equal target location count.
+
+---
+
+## Iterative Development Passes
+
+### Pass Zero: Pitch
+- Complete master list exists
+- Directory template established
+- No technical requirements
+- Each location assigned to a designer
+
+### Pass One: Layout
+- Basic environment art in place
+- "Graybox" equivalent with modular kits
+- Spatial relationships established
+
+### Pass Two: Gameplay
+- Core gameplay systems available
+- Enemy placement and encounters
+- First draft of pacing and challenge
+
+### Pass Three: Content Complete
+- All content present (if rough)
+- "Ship with shame" milestone
+- Everything playable end-to-end
+
+### Art Pass
+- Lighting, atmospherics, clutter
+- Visual polish
+- Collaboration between designers and artists
+
+### Pass Four+: Polish
+- Bug fixes
+- Balance tuning
+- Additional passes for problem areas or promising locations
+
+---
+
+## Practical Wisdom
+
+### Documentation Lifecycle
+> "We ship games, not documents."
+
+Keep documentation useful but don't over-maintain. Let documents go fallow once they've served their purpose.
+
+### Metrics and Scheduling
+- Base estimates on average/below-average designers
+- Plan for worst case
+- Leave emergency time
+
+> "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."
+
+### Pride of Ownership
+Try to keep designers with their locations throughout development. Ownership motivates.
+
+### Map as Communication
+The map unifies team perception. Print large versions. Reference constantly. It's your shared mental model.
+
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+1. **Map first** — Establishes shared vision
+2. **Master list** — Tracks and visualizes high-level data
+3. **Directory** — Captures per-location detail
+4. **Iterate** — Plan for multiple passes
+5. **Density matters** — Defines exploration feel
+6. **Natural boundaries** — Beat artificial walls
+7. **Anchor then fill** — Critical locations first, then expand